On a frosty Saturday morning it was no surprise that the only two district games to beat the frost were both played on 3G surfaces. Surely this is what all teams need to be playing on ASAP? Anyway, that debate is for another day, so back to the action…

Starting the game with clear attacking intent, it took us a while to get to grips with the 3G surface, with the ball often skimming off the surface and passes going too far. However, after ten minutes or so, we gained the upper hand thanks to an expert finish from Year 5 striker Cameron. However, just as we were starting to build up a head of steam, the ref blew for a penalty and left everyone slightly bemused as to what it was for. However, these things happen in football and it’s about how you react in the face of adversity. We reacted by rolling our sleeves up and making sure that we went into half time in the lead, via a class Shilo finish from the edge of the area.

The half time team talk was simple – be patient and reap the rewards. This is exactly what we did, steamrolling into a 5-1 lead. I’m not sure if I’ve got the sequence right but I know the goals came courtesy of Shilo, who played the second half in defence (yes you read that right!), Teon and Troy. Teon’s and Troy’s were both smart finishes from the edge of the area, but Shilo’s was even more special. The St. Matthew’s striker come defender, burst forward with the ball and carried it the length of the pitch before riffling it home. With 15 minutes to play, the game was wrapped up and The Ton were well in control. Or at least that’s what we clearly thought! Sutton Coldfield, to their eternal credit, got back into the game thanks to a couple of long range free kicks. With the game tentatively balanced at 5-4 to The Ton, nerves could have got the better of us. However as we’ve proved already this season on a number of occasions, we’re made of stern stuff and we refused to buckle. Tyrese made sure of the three points by curling the ball beyond the reach of the Sutton keeper and into the bottom right hand corner.

It was a great game for the neutral but not for my blood pressure! Today’s win makes it four games unbeaten (three wins and a draw), scoring 17 goals in the process! We’ve really built up a great team spirit and the atmosphere within the squad is possibly our biggest strength. If we continue scoring at the rate that we are, whilst tightening up at the back, there’s no reason why this run of form can’t continue!